Hello,

 

Please reconsider moving the Beltsville USDA lab as this would be disruptive for ongoing honey bee health collaborations, including a recently funded study for the discovery of anti-virals for the improvement of honey bee health which I am involved in. This research aims to directly tackle one of the leading causes of honey bee deaths from this past year, which was record-setting since 2006 and now puts agricultural productivity for the US at risk due to the lack of healthy pollinators. The recently funded project involves direct collaboration with the Beltsville USDA pollinator health lab.

 

I have previously worked for the USDA and the Beltsville lab has been one of the stronger and more productive pollinator health units and this is in part due to its location on the east coast and close collaborative ties in the area with the University of Maryland. For example, on our research project one of the collaborators is a company in the DC area that specializes in computer-aided drug discovery. These collaborative ties take years to form and the movement of the lab would be very disruptive to ongoing and future productivity in the long run. The damage to the beekeepers, other stakeholders, and the honey bee health research community will last for years to come with the moving of this USDA pollinator health lab.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts regarding this matter and if you would like me to elaborate on any of my thoughts feel free to reach out to me with the below contact information.

 

Kind regards,

Christopher Mayack